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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Hot crab dip (p. 74) and Broiled stuffed mushrooms cockaigne (p. 78)

Mom and I had this grand plan. I was going to go out on the town for New Year's Eve (that did occur), then come home on New Year's Day, make appetizers like we do on Thanksgiving, and then cook a tasty TJOC-inspired meal.

All of that happened except the last part. I went out, I made appetizers, the appetizers were so filling we were no longer hungry, and we didn't make the special dinner until the next day.

I'm almost out of TJOC appetizers (or so it seems) and I am getting down to the more strange recipes. There is nothing super odd about Hot crab dip (p. 74) but there is nothing that seems that amazing about the recipe either, which is why it never caught my attention. Plus, canned crab always seems so expensive.

I mixed cream cheese, mayonnaise, onions, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, and salt together in a bowl:

I added in a small can of crabmeat (which, bizarrely, mom had on hand):

And spread it in a dish. TJOC recommends a two-cup ovenproof bowl. I can't even envision what exactly that would be and I'm sure that mom doesn't have one.

It cooked for about 25 minutes:

We ate it with crackers. It was really good and even heated up well the next day. The crab dip was creamy and rich, with a nice spicy tang added by the horseradish. It wasn't overly fishy but make sure to use real crab and not imitation crab--I think it would taste "off" with fake crab. The dip seemed much fancier than most other hot dips.

I know exactly why I hadn't previously made Broiled stuffed mushrooms cockaigne (p. 78). It seems amazingly complex. That made it very unattractive as an appetizer.

I removed the stems from 24 button mushrooms:

I took the stems, a couple of extra mushrooms (chopped up), a shallot, and some garlic and sauteed them in butter:

Breadcrumbs, chopped walnuts, basil, and a little cream were added:

The whole concoction (which was hot and seemed dangerous) was added to a food processor (mom's tiny food processor was fine) and coursely chopped:

I stuffed the mushrooms with the breadcrumb mixture. For once, I must have actually used the correct amount of stuffing because I didn't have any left over when I finished. I sprinkled Parmesan cheese over the top and popped them in the oven.

Don't they look delicious?

The mushrooms were very, very tasty. They weren't very difficult but they did require quite a bit of active-time. I think these would be perfect hors d'oeuvres for a party since they look quite fancy. The stuffing was filling but didn't overwhelm the mushrooms. If you like mushrooms, this recipe will be a winner.